Stop unnecessary vaccination: eminent doctors, scientists to the PM

There have been 76 deaths till August 2014 from Pentavalent vaccination. This is unacceptable and the PMO must intervene and stop this unwarranted vaccination, instead of promoting it, says a letter sent by a group of academicians, practitioners and teachers of pediatrics and public health

Several eminent doctors and scientists have requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s immediate intervention to stop unwarranted vaccination in public interest.

Highlighting the recent deaths of young children following Pentavalent vaccination (76 deaths till August 2014), the letter sent to the PM says, “We request this note from us may please be taken on record since the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has itself been involved in pronouncements of vaccine initiatives in the past few months. We feel it is our responsibility to place these scientific facts before the PMO so that it is aware of the facts and so that urgent and appropriate action may be initiated by you to direct the Ministry of Health to act in public interest and in accordance with basic precautionary principles. We hope we will receive an action taken report in the next two weeks”.
The letter is signed by Prof Dr BM Hegde, former Vice Chancellor of Manipal University, Dr Vikas Bajpai from the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof Amitav Banerjee, Professor for Community Medicine at Dr DY Patil Medical College, Dr JP Dadhich, Consultant Paediatrician, Dr Arun Gupta, Paediatrician and Member of the PM’s Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges, Prof SK Mittal, former Professor of Pediatrics, MAMC and Head of Paediatrics at Pushapanjali Crosslay Hospital, Prof Ritu Priya, Prof at Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Dr Jacon Puliyel, Head of Pediatrics at St Stephens Hospital, Prof S Srinivasan, former Director-Professor of Pediatrics, JIPMER and Prof KP Kushwaha, Principal and Dean of BRD Medical College.

“Expensive vaccines that have little utility are being rolled out without monitoring benefits or harms and which are causing deaths and serious adverse effects. As a result, in spite of official attempts at denial, the public are losing trust in the entire immunization programme. We, a group of academicians, practitioners and teachers of pediatrics and public health would like to draw your attention to the pattern of adverse events and deaths from the newly introduced Pentavalent Vaccine (DPT+ Hib + Hep B vaccine) which is proposed to be rolled out nationwide as a government policy,” the letter says.

Alleging global pressure to roll out vaccination drives, the letter says, “We are aware that there is global pressure from international organisations and donors. These very international organisations have ensured that even the protocol used to investigate the deaths have now been changed so the deaths can be ignored.”
According to the letter, every few days one more child dies after receiving the Pentavalent vaccine.
The Deccan Herald of 22 August 2014 reported two more deaths from Haryana with the Pentavalent vaccine. Last week it was a death in Ujjain. Today’s newspaper (Nai Dunia, Indore) reports a death in Shivpuri (MP). Yet as these deaths mount, it has been announced that Pentavalent vaccine is to be introduced in three more states. Already as per RTI reply there have been 76 deaths in India till August 2014 from Pentavalent adverse events following immunization (AEFI).

It says vaccines are a public health measure to prevent serious disease and deaths. That is how a common man perceives the role of a vaccine. Therefore, deaths in healthy children from vaccines are not acceptable. These deaths have become so frequent that in Tamil Nadu, in spite of official denials, people have stopped going for vaccination and the immunization uptake has fallen by 25% in the last 4 years. According to the District LevelHousehold Survey – DLHS 4: 2012-13 (https://nrhm-mis.nic.in/SitePages/DLHS-4.aspx) immunization coverage across districts in Tamil Nadu, with over 85% full immunization (DLHS–3:2007-08) has fallen to 56%. At the same time, a study on Hepatitis B vaccine (now included in the Pentavalent vaccine) published in the latest issue of the journal of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics – Indian Pediatrics shows the vaccine does not protectbabies from infection, it added.